Throughout the play, Clytemnestra is spoken of with a sense of resentment and a fearful heart. It is partly the intolerable insensitivity and brutal pride of Agamemnon, who sacrifices his daughter's life to help carry on his political scheme, which drives the Queen to plot the murder of her husband. Clytemnestra uses her charm as a weapon as she persuades Agamemnon to step up to the red carpet and face his murder. Although the Elders of Argo do not trust Clytemnestra, they do not foresee the impeding murders. Clytemnestra plays the role of the victim and justifies her case to the Elders of Argo as if she is being prosecuted on trial. In her view, Agamemnon betrays her as a mother by killing Iphigenia, this is reinforced when she states "the right behind my sacrament: By my child's Justice driven to fulfilment, by her Wrath and Fury, to whom I sacrificed this man."(1431-1433) Agamemnon also betrays her as a wife by leaving her alone at home to suffer in his absence for ten years and leaving her to rule Troy; such an absence is seen as an offence against marriage from a female perspective. Clytemnestra's crime against Agamemnon in her point of view is balanced since he is guilty of committing a crime against their daughter, Iphigenia. Clytemnestra defends herself and demonstrates her fearless nature and in turn accuses the Elders of Argo of not doing more to prevent the sacrifice of Iphigenia, "were you not bound to hunt him then clear of this soil for the guilt stained upon him?" (1419-1420) Clytemnestra relates her vengeance as a mother to her status as a wife (1521) and tells the chorus how the daughter will meet her father "by the whirling stream and the ferry of tears to close him in her arms and kiss him." (1557-1559).
Clytemnestra argues that it is her husband's absence and infidelities that drives her to fall in love with Aegisthus. She confirms to the chorus that her confidence is not only justice for the murder of Iphigenia, but her love for Aegisthus when she states "yet Aegisthus makes the fire shine on my hearth.
